Government Copyright in School Textbooks and the Fundamental Right to Education
![handle is hein.journals/ijcl10 and id is 130 raw text is:
GOVERNMENT COPYRIGHT IN SCHOOL TEXTBOOKS AND THE
FUNDAMENTAL RIGHT TO EDUCATION
Anuprya Dhonchak and Rahul Baja-*
Abstract
Foregrounded against the exacerbation of the problem of differential
education access by the COVID-19 pandemic, this paper explores
the question of the government's copyright oianership in State Board
textbooks, and its consequences for access to information and
education. Firstly, the existing basis for vesting copyight ownership
for school textbooks in the government is examined. This is followed
by highlighting the extent, possibilities, and limitations of user rights
under the Indian Copynght Act, particulary for the puposes of
making learning materials more accessible in the context of the
pandemic. Based on this, the manner in which the copyright
regulations of certain state governments, which restrict the content of
school textbooks, hinder, rather than ease access to education, is
emphasised. Particular attention is devoted to the restrictive licensing
conditions in these policies, due to which effective access to and use of
government-owned copynghted material is impeded. The attention
then shifts to providing a rights-based framework for a solution to
the highlighted challenges. This is accomplished through analysing
Indian case lava defining the parameters of the Right to Education,
which serves as the foundation for the argument that the state must
adhere to its ongoing commitments under the RtE. Thus, it is
Anupriya Dhonchak is a B.A. LL.B. (Hons.) graduate of National Law
University Delhi, and is currently reading for the Bachelor of Civil Law at the
University of Oxford as a Rhodes Scholar [India and Balliol, 2021].
Rahul Bajaj is a Senior Resident Fellow at the Vidhi Centre for Legal Policy
and was a Judicial Law Clerk to Justice D.Y. Chandrachud in the 2020-2021
court year. The authors would like to thank the peer reviewer for their
comments, Natasha Singh and Krishnanunni U for their research assistance, as
well as the Board of Editors at IJCL for their editorial assistance.](ViewImageLocal?handle=hein.journals/ijcl10&div=9&collection=&method=preview&ext=.png&size=3)
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Government Copyright in School Textbooks and the Fundamental Right to Education
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